severe and radiating pain

The problem with “lists” is that, the moment one realizes that one is not on the list, the tendency is to simply give up and go home. But lists are rarely exhaustive; rather, most are merely to provide a “paradigm” or “type”, as opposed to exclusionary intent by failing to specify or name. Thus, for Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who are considering preparing, formulating and filing for OPM Disability Retirement benefits, whether the Federal or Postal employee is under FERS, CSRS or CSRS Offset, […] Read More …

Private, subjective mental states are unique by self-definition; they become public knowledge only when shared with deliberate intent, revealing the inner thoughts, private conceptual pondering, and narrative voices of the subjective “I”. Pain is similar in form, in that one can mask and keep private the experiential factor of pain, just as one can remain hidden in the private thoughts one engages. Qualia, in philosophy, has to do with the subjective experience of one’s encounter with the greater world; […] Read More …

Pain is a reminder of sorts; but then, so are alarm clocks, speed bumps and the presence of law enforcement personnel. All around us, through signs, advertisements, smart phone apps, and sticky notes which we write to ourselves, we are surrounded by reminders. […] Read More …

Wittgenstein was a master of linguistic analysis, and questioned the traditional correspondence theory between the language which we speak and describe about the world, and the objective reality which we encounter on a daily basis. He was the penultimate […] Read More …

Pain is a reminder that the physiological state of one’s body is in need of rest or repair; it is tantamount to an error message on the computer, with the analogy of our brain being the software component. Chronic pain thus constitutes a system shutdown; continued […] Read More …

The problem with pain is that, quite simply put, there is only one person who “owns” it — the pain-feeler. One can describe it, ascribe adjectives which somewhat make it come alive for the listener; and even attempt metaphors and analogies that expand upon the limited […] Read More …

Pain by definition is “subjective”, if by it one means that the experiential verification of the condition is uniquely possessed by the “I”, or the subject of the experience. By contrast, that which is deemed “objective” is presumably validated by more than the […] Read More …

For Federal and Postal employees suffering from a chronic medical condition which impacts one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, the times of “leisure” have little or no meaning. […] Read More …

Medical conditions tend to “feed upon” one another. Maintaining a balanced perspective on anything is difficult when one is in pain, and the nagging, incessant presence of pain, diffuse and […] Read More …

It is easy to give advice about pain when a person is feeling no pain; it is unwise to act upon it when one is in an extreme state of it. For, the former will often be disbelieving of the extent and […] Read More …